Students have forced Cambridge University to cancel an Around The World In 80 Days-themed event over fears that people will wear racially offensive costumes.
Organisers from the Junior Parlour Committee (JPC) feared that the theme could lead to 'cultural appropriation' if people wear clothes from an ethnic group they don't belong to at the BOP event.
But other students at Pembroke College are now arguing that axing the event is restricting their freedom of expression by preventing offence towards ethnic minorities.
Organisers from Cambridge University's Junior Parlour Committee (JPC) have cancelled an Around The World In 80 Days themed party for fears it will lead to offensive costumes. There was anger on Facebook, with one student writing: 'I'm mostly just upset that I can't use the man-sized hot air balloon costume I made'
It is the latest example of students taking a militant approach to political correctness and enforcing it on campuses across Britain.
Just yesterday, crowds of Oxford University students marched through the streets campaigning for the statue of 19th century colonialist Cecil Rhodes to be removed.
The Oxford students were joined by some of their peers from other universities - who have also been campaigning to get a bronze cockerel removed from Jesus College, Cambridge, and a statue of Queen Victoria taken down at Royal Holloway, University of London.
In February, left-wing activists succeeded in stopping Dr Adam Perkins' planned lecture at the London School of Economics because they disagreed with view on welfare.
He had been due to talk about the relationship between personality and the welfare state, but it had to be cancelled because of threats that students would disrupt it.
And comedian John Cleese said last month that he has been warned last month to avoid college campuses because some of his jokes would not be considered correct by today's student body.
In Cambridge, the JPC wrote to students this week to explain their decision to cancel the Around The World in 80 Days themed event, saying: 'Having discussed the matter at length as a committee, the JPC have decided that the most appropriate action is to break with the tradition of reusing finalists' first fresher BOP theme.
'Instead we are using an alternative theme, to avoid the potential for offence to be caused by the theme "Around the World in 80 Days".'
Speaking to The Tab, student Shani Wijetilaka said: 'Some members of the college met this decision with anger which erupted over Facebook on the Pembroke Exchange page.
'Those in favour of the original theme claimed that "deliberately changing the theme implies the student body isn't capable of dressing appropriately by itself".
'The decision was characterised as "overly controlling and a little insulting" in a post that gained more than 130 likes.'
One student wrote: 'I'm mostly just upset that I can't use the man-sized hot air balloon costume I made.'
Another said: 'Can the JPC reimburse me for my geisha costume if they don't change the theme back?'
Other students at Pembroke College (pictured) are now arguing that axing the event is restricting their freedom of expression by preventing offence towards ethnic minorities
To which someone replied: 'At least you'll have memoirs of it.' HAHAHAHA
Lots of students defended the 80 days theme as a way of appreciating cultural diversity and did not see it as an appropriative and racist idea.
One student said: 'I don't feel that dressing up in costumes that celebrate cultural diversity should be reprimanded.
'Can't we take joy in spending an evening in the national dress of another country?
'This decision just serves to perpetuate the downward spiral of extreme political correctness that I feel universities across the world seem to be succumbing to.'
But many students defended the JCR's decision to change the theme, and said it was 'literally a way to minimise the risk of people of colour having a sh** night'.
One person wrote: 'I think the issue is that many of the outfits are not 'national dress' as defined by their own culture, but are crude stereotypes and often rely on historic racial tropes.'
Another said: 'It would be great if there was a guarantee that everyone was woke enough to not abuse this inherently innocent theme, but it's just easier for others to make mistakes.
'It's also a lot easier to make mistakes when you don't have the lived experiences of an ethnic minority in the UK, or have an ethnic background in a historically colonised country.
'This isn't a big deal. It's a bop. Chill out.'
Lots of students at Pembroke (pictured) defended the 80 days theme as a way of appreciating cultural diversity and did not see it as an appropriative and racist idea
Other supporters of the decision to change the name called on others to 'check their privilege' and stop whining about their freedoms when it was just a party.
In a last ditch attempt to grow support for the theme, some students posted photos their first ever bop at the college as Freshers in 2013, for which the theme was Around the World in 80 Days.
But this backfired when some students said the photos actually made them realise the theme definitely had the potential to be offensive.
Photos showed some students in native American headdresses - and one student wrote of the bop that they thought some people had to be turned away for trying to wear a hijab.
The student said: 'I agreed with the original post until I looked at the photos.
'Some of the outfits are very questionable and I can see how they could cause offence.'
Around the World in Eighty Days is a 1873 adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, about the exploits of Phileas Fogg as he attempts to travel around the globe in under three months.
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